eakins Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 looking to buy with 70K miles & 5sp. what should i watch for? thanks, bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commuter Posted December 25, 2004 Share Posted December 25, 2004 External head gasket leaks, drivers side at the rear. Brakes were a bit undersized on this year. They upped the size in 2001 apparently. Be prepared for more brake work than usual. I can't really think of anything else. Commuter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treeman Posted December 26, 2004 Share Posted December 26, 2004 looking to buy with 70K miles & 5sp. what should i watch for?thanks, bill Hello to one and all, long-time lurker/first time poster. There are some right smart folks on here.I, too, have a Y2KOBW, Blue-baru. I keep hearing of impending doom regarding the headgaskets and poor brakes. After 77,000 miles, I can honestly say this has been the best vehicle I have ever owned. I've driven VWs for decades, but have had a variety of cars, Amur-can and fer-un. I had a injector go bad at 28K, but 2 hours at the dealer fixed that. I haven't seen any leaks- oil, or coolant, yet. And the brakes are the best I've ever used, saved my behind a few times (we do a LOT of freeway stop-n-go driving in Houston!) Last week I had a very smelly smoke come up and I thought my wife, driving the car at the time, had smoked the clutch, but after getting it up on the ramps, I see the right inside CV boot had split, and thrown grease on the exhaust, which couldn't be 3" away. All that heat must really dry out the rubber. I noticed the steering boot on that side was roasted and recently split, too. As soon as I can get the parts and the time to fix these things I will. The clutch, she's a-slippin' and I'm trying to figure if there is some sort of adjustment or if it's time to replace the clutch. I do ocassionally have the dreaded clutch judder, which usually only happens in cooler weather after start-up in the morning. Less than no big deal. I replaced the battery at 50K. I'll be changing the Timing belt, hoses, other belts, cam/ crank shaft seals, checking/replacing the water pump and belt tensioner and adding the cooling system additive as others have recommended. Oh, and running a can of Seafoam into the engine to burn out accumulated carbon (if there is any). All this with the next 10,000 miles. Times have changed, and new cars require a lot of expensive maintanence that you better not blow off. But, that's what it will take to run 200,000 or more miles. All in all, a great car. Bradford Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.